A Heap of Ashes

Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Pramoedya Ananta Toer is probably the best known internationally of all
Indonesian writers. A Heap of Ashes is a collection of five of his
stories written in the early fifties, before he attained his present
fame. The stories are autobiographical or semi-autobiographical in
content, and they constitute a personal trace of Indonesian history from
the period of Dutch colonial rule and early nationalist unrest through
to the traumas of the Japanese occupation, the Revolution, the Madiun
uprising and the early years of independence. Although they lack the
polish and sophistication of Pramoedya's more recent novels, the stories
in A Heap of Ashes have a vigour and directness that makes them
powerfully evocative.